Sunday, June 10, 2018

One of the reasons I like blogging is because I get to share interesting and informative things with you and then get your opinions and thoughts on these issues.

For instance, someone recently sent me an article from The Root, which they said infuriated them. Why? Because, they said, it was just another sad case of living while black in America, and privileged and entitled Missy resenting us being in her space.

I gotta tell you, though, I didn't see what others saw as racism. (Not like this. Now this is racism)What I saw after reading this article and watching the video, was a woman suffering from mental illness who clearly needed help. Now some would argue that racism is a form of mental illness, and I tend to agree, but the sick woman in this video would have acted the way she did no matter what the race of the people in her apartment complex.

I pity her because mental illness is real, and these spate of high profile suicides should tell us as much. Heck in my humble opinion (not mention the opinion of some real mental health professionals), your president suffers from mental illness. Watching him try to play president and make a mess of our world order ought to tell us as much. But I digress.Back to Missy with the issues in Oklahoma City.

66 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I don’t think racism is a mental illness. It is a gross and unhealthy belief system that is deeply divorced from reality, but it doesn’t involve denying observable facts like a true delusion or hallucination.

Mostly it involves cherry picking third-person data that one has been told, not based on the credibility of sources but based on how it makes one feel (“I’ve been told fact X and X makes me feel superior, so I’ll accept X is real. I have been told fact Y and Y doesn’t make me feel as good, so I’ll just flush that fact down the toilet.”)

It also involves accepting ONLY personally observable data and ignoring any third party data. Example: You see poor black neighborhoods in your town, and you decide to completely ignore what you learned in history class about HOW so many black folks got poor. Divorced of that context, the only reasonable conclusion is: “Gosh, them black folks must be super dumb and lazy. That’s got to be why they’re so poor.”

In short, none of this requires mental illness, just stupidity, a lack of empathy, and emotionally motivated reasoning. Or, in other words, racists aren’t insane; they’re just idiots and/or assholes.

For what it’s worth, I agree that the woman in the story who called the cops because nobody would comfort her was likely mentally ill or intoxicated, rather than racist.

I’ll go further than that. I think the assumption that she was racist is a reflection of some black people’s own prejudices. There’s this view among some black folks that racist white people, or maybe just white people in general, are super arrogant and all think the world revolves around them. But that’s not how racism works. Racists mostly don’t think they’re great; they think black people are garbage. They don’t have a super-high opinion of themselves; they have a low opinion of black people.

Also, if this woman were racist, why would she be seeking emotional support from black people? Racists don’t typically want to get closer to blacks. They don’t seek emotional intimacy with blacks. This does not add up.

Finally, thinking a cop will force someone to be your friend is just nuts! No sane person would believe this is part of a police officer’s job description. That she did seem to believe the police would help her with her problem suggests she had some sort of cognitive impairment, not bigoted attitudes.

> someone recently sent me an article from The Root, which they said infuriated them. Why? Because, they said, it was just another sad case of living while black in America, and privileged and entitled Missy resenting us being her space.

Your correspondent obviously can't read. "Missy", as you call her, was so desperate for a bit of company she sought it out from a bunch of black people.

Who shunned her, in a way you would call "racist" if the situation was reversed.

> Now some would argue that racism is a form of mental illness, and I tend to agree

Funny, you don't agree that you need treatment for your blatant double standard.

> but the sick woman in this video would have acted the way she did no matter what the race of the people in her apartment complex.

Poor "Missy" was color-blind enough to seek a bit of camraderie from black people. Only when she was shunned did she go off the deep end. And contrary to your incessant harping about "black people being shot for doing nothing", the cops showed up and... ascertained that the situation was harmless and went away. Nobody was killed, shot, or even had a weapon pointed at them. Nobody was arrested or threatened with arrest. Nobody was even treated discourteously by the cops.

Contrast this with the fate of the people that Vester Lee Flanagan and Omar Thornton accused of "racism" (10 dead and 3 wounded between them, no cops involved).

I think that the pool partyers handled it all wrong! She is obviously not well because who the hell does that xD, BUT, they should have helped her, we are all put on this earth to help each other you know! Playing in a pool with a lonely person or inviting her to play, would have solved the problem and possibly even, most likely, cured her, as well as provided an enjoyable time for all, and memorable. Isn't that what summer fun is all about?

There is a wonderful pool game for people with those kind of situations, it's called the game of 'Killer Whale' yeah...I can see it now! Man! Fun times! oh she woulda been cured, I guarantee it!

Hell outta here with that ish!

But on a more neighborly note, yeah...what the cop shoulda done was drag her away, but no...he let her keep on ruining everybody's fun! Of course if the colors were reversed she woulda ended up handcuffed with maybe a smacking around too, in the local jail, but...

I feel for her a little. When I was in acute rehab for my stroke for almost two months, I met a woman who had also had a stroke, and just had no-one. Not one single visitor in two months, and when she was nearing discharge, they had to scramble to find her somewhere to go. They finally found a skilled nursing facility that was willing to take her temporarily, and as they were loading her on the bus they gave her a brand-new walker because she didn't even own the one she was using to learn how to walk with. I still think of her sometimes, and reflect on just how goddamn lucky I have been. I didn't have any more resources than she did, in fact, when I was discharged, I didn't even have a cane to walk with. But I had people. People who did things like visit me there, and install banisters on both sides of the main stairway in the warehouse space where I lived so I could get up and down them when I got home. Like find a wheelchair for me to use until my quad-cane arrived from Amazon. Like found a treadmill for free on Craigslist, and when that didn't work for me, an elliptical trainer that did. Basically, people cared what happened to me and were willing to do things, within reason, to help me recover. These days I tend to walk ten laps around the back yard without using my cane, because god damn it, I'm gonna be able to work again some day. It'll happen, because I never give up, but it could never have happened without the people who helped me when I could barely stand up. This lady reminds me of that woman at rehab, who I got to know a little. She had some family, but none of them would talk to her or visit her, much less have her live with them. There was some obvious bad blood between them, but she needed help, and that bad blood was stronger to them than her obvious need. It was sad. I kind of liked her, and didn't understand why she didn't have anyone at all to talk to outside of the rehab hospital. I also went through my share of depression, for years, but for some reason not since my stroke, so I can relate to the pool lady on that level also. And, looking at it from the point of view of the other folks at the pool, what kind of best case scenario comes to mind for some black folks in Oklahoma who get involved with a crazy white lady? Well, the cops get called and nobody gets jailed or shot? That appears to be what happened. There are many things that need addressing if we want to make this story less likely or frequent, but the way things are now, a lot of folks just get left behind and abandoned, especially when they have issues that make them difficult or risky to deal with.

Jesus, all the hate on this site! What exactly do you have against white people, especially our lawfully elected President, Donald J. Trump? He won. WE won. Get over it. Whites are not your enemy. You know who your worst enemy is?

YOU are your own worst enemy! Stop hating on white folks and get a life. Put down the Uzis and the crack pipes and pick up some books and musical instruments. (Note: turntables are not musical instruments.) Get a job. Go outside. Stop eating at Popeye's every day. Grow up. The world is leaving you guys behind.

Truth, my White Brother. Black people have got to get their heads out of their asses. I'm tired of getting blamed for all of Leroy and Shaneequa's problems just because my family owned a few "guest laborers" 200 years ago. It's bullshit. It's the 21st Century! Leave the past in the past!

Thanks for posting this article. Even though I've been gone for years, I grew up there in Oklahoma City. I've been busy and missed the article I guess because actually there are so many like it lately. Maybe it is a new kind of white people virus, sure hope I don't catch it.

Not really. She wanted to spoil their fun. By imposing her bs on them, she didn't want to see them enjoying themselves, like that other barbecue person. Why? because she's white and she says so.

I just hope it doesn't happen to one of you guys that're giving her a pass, when you go to spend a little weekend summer fun time with your families, and some someone steps up to you and insists on interrupting and having you 'counsel' them for depression and/or whatever else she decided to say. So you can stop everything dry the tears, 'counsel' and help the poor, good white lady. and then she'll call the cops on you anyway cos you didn't help her enough! Lolol! Have fun! and lemme know how that turns out will ya...

and by the way to answer the blog question, is it racism or mental illness?

It's racism, racism that she's (cleverly she thinks) disguising as a mental incompetence of some sort to get away with white dominance, white supremacy, white privilege, the ole 'cos I'm white and I say so' and white entitlement.

Former nut job sheriff of Milwaukee County wants Drumpf to invite Triple Crown winner to WH. Be alright with me, as George Soros is part owner of Justify and that would be great for him to smack Drumpfuck just by being there. Justify could kick Drumpf when Drumpf grabbed for his pussy.

State of Louisiana is in danger of killing food stamp program for 19% of the state's population because of budget shortfalls. Guv wants a special session to look for resources. I bet the wealthy are enjoying their taxcuts for the koch bros while others really struggle.

DummyDrtumpf is going to pardon Muhammad Ali, who doesn't need a pardon. He needs an apology and reparations from his country that threw him in jail as a conscientious objector. If only he had bone spurs.

“State of Louisiana is in danger of killing food stamp program for 19% of the state's population because of budget shortfalls. Guv wants a special session to look for resources. I bet the wealthy are enjoying their taxcuts for the koch bros while others really struggle.”

Mitchie McCTurtle at Faith and Freedumb whine testing party- MCCONNELL: Now look, the Democrats are not making any of this easy. They've decided it's more fun to be the resistance than to do their job and help us govern the country. They're pulling every trick in the book to delay, obstruct and deny our president the team that he deserves.

I agree with you, Field. This woman strikes me as mentally ill, and perhaps intoxicated or using some drug she cannot handle.The people around the pool were under no obligation to talk with her.I'm just glad the police officer showed some common sense.

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